Youth Services

Community Futures Grande Prairie offers and supports youth service programs.

ATTENTION: Northern Alberta Youth Entrepreneurship Camp

NAYEC logo Northern Community Futures offices welcomed 48 youth age 13-15 to our Entrepreneurship Camp August 16-22, 2009 at Moose Lake near Bonnyville, AB. The campers were able to take part in all of the usual camp activities along with learning how to start a business.

The campers were grouped into business teams and learned everything from coming up with Business Ideas, to Business Plan Development, Marketing and Customer Service. Once they had developed their plans, they purchased supplies and worked on developing their products which were then sold on the last day - market day. They all did a wonderful job and took away very valuable skills.

This camp is sponsored by Northern Community Futures offices and is absolutely free for youth to attend. Each CF sends four campers. We look forward to seeing you at NAYEC 2010 also hosted at Moose Lake! Come join us from August 22 to 28, 2010. Application are now available at www.nayec.ca.

Youth Connections

Youth Connections brings together youth, business, educators and government to help young people build productive career paths, develop skills, explore work or educational options and achieve meaningful employment.

The program connects young people, age 15 to 24, to learning and employment information, labour market information and resources, educational and career information, opportunities for work experience and on-the-job skill development. In addition, the program offers assistance with school-to-work transition for high school students.

Youth can also complete numerous career and job related training sessions, including Career Planning, Self Assessment, Resume Writing, Interview Skills, Job Search Techniques and Job Maintenance.

Click on the following links for more information:

Community Futures about Ventures! A partnership with Northern Alberta Development Council (NADC,) the Ventures program involves encouraging students who may be at risk of leaving high school to start their own businesses and several Northern Alberta Community Futures offices have gotten on board to deliver the program in schools in their regions. The program was first piloted in Grande Prairie at Peace Wapiti Academy. It's success warranted taking the project bigger.

Students start by completing modules in a couple of CTS strands and then apply their learning to their own business plans, marketing plans, etc. Once their business plans are complete, they then apply for a Special Project at school and can also apply for a small business loan through our organization. As they operate their business, students can use their hours to obtain credits. If and when the student graduates, their business loan is paid off via dollars from NADC.

The ideas are astounding and Community Futures is thrilled to be a part of this innovative and exciting initiaitve!

For more information about Ventures, visit www.ownyourfuture.ca